Latinos hit hard by Texas' snub of Medicaid expansion

SAN ANTONIO — Uninsured Latinos have been hit particularly hard by Texas' decision to not expand Medicaid eligibility requirements, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Council of La Raza.

Nearly 600,000 of the state's Hispanics who would have benefited from Medicaid expansion are going without coverage, said the report by the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights advocacy group, citing statistics from the Kaiser Family Foundation and other organizations.

And Texas Latinos are disproportionately represented among those falling into the Medicaid coverage gap, accounting for 60 percent of all Texans who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid assistance and too little to qualify for health insurance tax credits — even though Hispanics account for only 38 percent of the state's population.

The numbers are grim both statewide and nationally.

“Latinos are one of America's most uninsured populations, with nearly one in three Latinos lacking coverage nationally,” said Leticia de la Vara, a senior strategist with the National Council of La Raza. “For Latinos here in Texas, the situation is especially acute as Texas has the third-highest rate of uninsured Hispanics in the country.”

Texas is one of 24 states that have chosen to not expand Medicaid eligibility requirements under the Affordable Care Act, which would allow people younger than 65 years old earning incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level to qualify for Medicaid assistance.

Gov. Rick Perry and many state legislators have been opposed to expanding Medicaid, citing concerns that such a move would ultimately add to the public debt and place more burdens on taxpayers in the long run.

“It really confirmed what we already knew,” Cavazos said of the report. “There are many nonprofit organizations and other federal agencies that are carrying the brunt of these costs to extend and link all of these safety nets for these families.

“I think the biggest surprise of all is that we are making do with the limited resources we have out of necessity,” he said.

Texas' current eligibility requirements remain among the most restrictive in the nation, limiting Medicaid to those earning 19 percent or less of the federal poverty level, La Raza's report said.

While nearly one-third of Hispanics nationwide lack health insurance, the state's numbers are even worse. A little more than half of Texans without health insurance are Latino — amounting to 3.3 million people statewide, the report said.

Among non-elderly, white adults in Texas, 17 percent are going without health insurance, the report said.

Hispanics nationwide are more likely than whites to be obese, diabetic, newly diagnosed with cervical cancer or to die from diabetes, the report said, attributing those statistics to a Families USA report released earlier this year.

States have the option of reversing course and expanding Medicaid eligibility requirements at any time, federal health services officials said. That decision — or an alternative solution — can be made by a state's governor and legislators, the La Raza report said.